To: Interested Parties
From: Tyler Law, Regional Press Secretary
Date: August 3, 2016
RE: The Case Against Kevin Yoder
Yesterday’s Kansas primary results mark the beginning of the general election race for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District. Businessman and public school parent Jay Sidie begins the general election poised to take advantage of favorable national and state political environment with Donald Trump and Governor Sam Brownback facing staggeringly low approval ratings. Jay is not a career politician – and that’s what gives him the important bipartisan appeal that it takes to win in this district. Like many people in the district, Jay has children in public schools and is sick and tired of the Yoder-Brownback agenda.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Jay Sidie, an investment firm owner with sensible ideas, could provide a strong challenge to Yoder in November. Sidie says Yoder’s voting record and world view line up with the abysmal financial failures of Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration. Sidie holds sound positions on education, federal spending and Wall Street reform.” [Kansas City Star Editorial, 7/28/16]
“We’ve told you about businessman Jay Sidie, who has filed as a Democrat to challenge Yoder. Democrats say they have a poll showing Yoder basically tied with a generic Democrat in the district, and they plan to tie Yoder to the highly unpopular Gov. Sam Brownback.” [Kansas City Star, 5/26/16]
“New polls indicates the fall campaign in Johnson County, Kansas, could be wide open.” [KMBC, 5/24/16]
“Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee targets Yoder as part of national ad campaign.” [Lawrence Journal-World, 6/11/16]
KEVIN YODER: BROWNBACK’S EXTREMIST PARTNER
YODER-BROWNBACK EDUCATION CUTS
Yoder, serving as the chairman of the Kansas House Budget Committee in 2009, ushered in the draconian education cuts that have led the state into its current crisis and have been continued by Gov. Sam Brownback. Yoder introduced two budget plans that year, one which would have cut $142 million from public schools and universities. Then, in 2010, Yoder supported a budget proposal that would cause public schools to lose $172 million.
ARCHITECT OF DRACONIAN BUDGET
After Yoder oversaw the beginning Kansas’ slash-and-burn fiscal measures, the situation worsened under Gov. Sam Brownback’s leadership. Brownback has slashed Medicaid, higher education, and K-12 funding. He has gutted state highway funds and delayed payments into the state pension system. All while job creation and economic growth in Kansas continues to lag.
And what does Yoder have to say about Gov. Brownback? Yoder endorsed Brownback’s reelection in 2014, they held a fundraiser together in DC, and have appeared at several campaign events together. This is politically disastrous considering that Brownback is America’s least popular governor.
PAYDAY LENDING PAY-TO-PLAY
Yoder was the target of an ethics complaint after he received a flood of donations from the payday lending industry in the weeks surrounding his support for legislation to weaken payday regulations. Over his career, Yoder has taken at least $200,000 in campaign contributions from the payday lending industry.
WALL STREET SHILL
Yoder, who is currently a member of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services, has taken over $1 million in campaign contributions from the securities and investment, finance, and commercial banking industries. In 2012, Yoder voted for a Republican budget that would repeal new restrictions on Wall Street.
EXTREME PARTISAN
Unsurprisingly, Congressman Yoder votes with his party 97% of the time. He even voted for the extreme Republican Study Committee Budget (even more extreme than the primary Republican budget) that would raise the retirement age to 70 and turn Medicare into a voucher program. Yoder has also voted twice to shut down the government. In 2013, when the devastating shutdown took plan, he voted against a bipartisan compromise to reopen the government. Further cementing his status as one of the more ideologically extreme members of Congress, Yoder voted against an overwhelmingly bipartisan highway deal and the widely bipartisan budget deal.
EMBRACING TRUMP
Yoder has fully embraced his party’s nominee, Donald Trump. While Trump has disparaged women and experts say he would endanger our national security, Yoder has stood beside his party’s standard bearer. And even now, after Trump has insulted war heroes and Gold Star families Yoder has failed to denounce Trump’s candidacy.
POSITIVE SIGNS FOR JAY SIDIE
The overall turnout in the Democratic Primary was 32,685 votes, which is a shocking 11,972 votes higher than what we saw in 2014 (20,713 total votes), and 11,220 higher than what we saw in 2010 (21,465 total votes). Without any notable state legislative Democratic primaries to drive historic turnout, this indicates that Democrats are uniquely motivated to vote. Potential reasons for this enthusiasm could be Governor Brownback’s staggering unpopularity and the presidential race. Overall, this is the type of district where a moderate Democrat can win in a presidential election year. Kansas’ 3rd District is 78.3% suburban, relatively highly educated, and has an average income that is 23.7% higher than the statewide average.
Kansas’ 3rd district is proving to be a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats in 2016. A DCCC-conducted poll in March showed that an unnamed Democrat is virtually tied with Republican Kevin Yoder, 39% to 38%. This tight margin is fueled largely by an 18-point advantage for Democrats among registered independents. Yoder’s personal profile is mixed (32% fav, 32% unfav), though especially with independents (-19 net, 19% fav, 38% unfav). Republicans desperately rushed to release a poll of their own – the problem for them is that it showed Yoder below 50%.
A DCCC-released poll showed Clinton with a 7-point lead over Trump in Kansas’s 3rd District in June, which was before Trump’s numbers started to tumble even further. Making matters worse, Sam Brownback is the least popular governor in the nation with a 26% approval rating. That’s a big problem for Yoder who is closely tied to Brownback and his disastrous education cuts.